Graphic from anti-war leaflets and articles. U.S. soldiers who fought in the Korean and Vietnam Wars dehumanized the people of both "enemy" Asian countries by using the racist term, "gooks." The word was also used in a derogatory way toward Asian Americans by American veterans on U.S. soil. Many Asian American students turned against the war when they saw the similarities in the racist aspects of the war abroad, and the discrimination they faced at home.

Parting the Wild Horse's Mane: Asian American Images an the Asian Media Collective

Images could be very powerful. The first time I heard Chris and Joanne [one of the first Asian American folk groups] sing, something opened inside me. I had never thought of myself that way -- a grain of sand, in the belly of a monster, a yellow pearl -- descended from a line of courageous workers who built railroads, endured great hardships, faced exclusion acts, were not allowed to own property or to marry outside our race -- raised by women who slaved in sweatshops.

It's hard to explain why it affects me so deeply, but it is like "seeing" for the first time. Seeing that we didn't have to fit into someone else's world, into someone else's image. Learning about our own history, our own culture, one that had been hidden for a long time. It is -- like finding a piece of myself. I learn how to write my Chinese name. I begin looking for my own stories. That's what this Asian Media Collective stuff is all about. And it affects all of us. We can't go back to being, to fitting those old images anymore.